Whiting lake listed for auction on eBay

WHITING – An Illinois contractor who auctioned off more than 1,800 acres last fall has turned to eBay to sell another 1,565 acres and a private lake.

The parcel surrounding 140-acre Josh Pond includes three of the four lots that Dale Thomas of Crest Hill, Ill., didn’t sell through JP King Auction Co. Inc. during an Oct. 12, 2002, auction in Bar Harbor. Thomas has set a minimum bid of $1.5 million for the Josh Pond property, which was posted Wednesday on eBay.

“This private, natural spring-fed lake can be yours!” the advertisement reads. “Private and secluded yet only 15 minutes to a quaint New England seacoast town that offers: restaurants, building supplies, groceries, pharmacies, a hospital and even a university.” The advertisement refers to Machias.

Thomas said Friday he’s received quite a few phone calls on the property, which he sees as a great opportunity for a multigenerational family retreat. That was his idea, Thomas said, when he paid Five Islands Corp. $1.2 million for 7,915 acres in Whiting and Marion Township in March 2000.

Five Islands Corp. is the real estate division of H.C. Haynes, the Winn timber harvesting company. Haynes purchased the property from the Baskahagen Lumber Co. in 1995, according to records in the Washington County Registry of Deeds.

Thomas said he bought all 7,915 acres because Haynes was selling it as a block, but his idea was to carve out a recreational retreat that would include future house lots for his children and grandchildren.

Large parcels of land are not going to be available anywhere in the country for long, he said, and property in Down East Maine is undervalued for recreation.

Thomas said business commitments are preventing him from carrying through on his plans, so he is selling all of his Down East property.

“I build houses, and I have projects in Florida and Chicago, so I just don’t have the time to come to Maine,” he said.

Thomas said JP King’s October auction was successful in selling the smaller parcels in Whiting and Marion Township, but the auction did not attract the larger buyers who would be interested in pieces such as Josh Pond and a 727-acre lot with frontage on Rocky and Long lakes.

The 727-acre piece is listed for sale with Down East Properties in Blue Hill, as is an 1,150-acre parcel with frontage on both Sunken and Rocky lakes, he said.

Thomas said he initially gave the 1,150-acre piece to a Machias contractor in exchange for some work he’d done, but the man decided not to keep it.

Another Thomas property- a 3,570-acre lot in Marion Township – is under contract, he said.

Downeast timberland is changing hands as timber companies, including International Paper Co., sell off tens of thousands of acres no longer essential to their re-structured operations.

Planning board Chairman George Townsend said Friday that nearly 5,000 acres of Whiting land has been subdivided within the last two years.